That is more common a scenario than most folks realize. Especially on the large ships where a sailor can blend into the crowd of strangers. When I was in, a sailor on one of the aircraft carriers disappeared while at sea, and he hid from everyone who knew him for several months still onboard. He was caught when he was going down the pier back in Norfolk, after it had returned from deployment. Purely by coincidence, one of his supervisors was on the pier and recognized him. He got out a a while later, with a conviction of desertion on his record and a dishonorable discharge.